Trakindo fires 20 leaders of Mimika strike

The Jakarta Post , Mimika, Papua | Mon, 06/30/2008 2:56 PM | National

As many as 20 people who led about 700 workers in a seven-day strike to demand higher salaries in mid-April have been laid off by PT Trakindo Utama Tembagapura.

The 20 workers, all councilors at the Confederation of All-Indonesian Workers Union (KSPSI), have been banned from entering the Trakindo work site and were required to return their company IDs.

One of the fired workers, Maimun Madia, said PT Trakindo had failed to keep its promise during negotiations that it would not dismiss any of its employees.

They have reported the case to the Mimika legislative council, which is currently facilitating talks between the workers and the management.

The 700 employees of Trakindo Utama, a heavy equipment manufacturer, began a seven-day strike on April 18, demanding a 97.54 percent pay rise based on an agreement brokered between PT Freeport Indonesia and the Tongoi Papua workers union in April 2007.

They went on strike after negotiations with the management of Trakindo Utama, a partner company of PT Freeport Indonesia, broke down.

The management, which claimed it would not be able fully to adhere to the April 2007 agreement due to the company's nationally fixed income scale policy, had raised the pay of
employees by Rp 200,000 earlier this year.

The workers, however, said living expenses in Papua, particularly in Mimika, were higher than in other parts of Indonesia. Trakindo currently has more than 60 branches across the archipelago.(Markus Makur/**)

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